Smart phone wide angle

[ShaunyC]

Hi all,

joined here a while ago when I bought a celestron telescope but turned out the mirror and built in magnification for eyepiece was pretty pants even spent a few quid on some decent eyepieces but just highlighted how pants the telescope was.. so it's been all tucked away under the bed for a while and I'm just starting to get that 'itch' again..

So to satisfy me untill the itch grows into a new telescope I've been playing with my new mobile Huawei p20 pro.... Not sure where those attached pics will turn up aha...

And see some YT videos where there getting half decent pics of the galaxy etc...

But a wide angle clip on lens is required.. which I bought some cheap crud and table top mount... So before I waste any more money on another WA I thought I'd see if anyone here has any recommendations???  

ATM I'm looking at a aukey or amir one 10-12 quid  

Any advice much appreciated

Thanx

[MarsG76]

Good start to ease back in..

When you say that the mirror is "pants" I presume you mean poor... if so, make sure that you're collimated.... a uncollimated scope can seem to be rubbish, one collimated you will have those WOW moments, and Celestron tends to be of a high quality...

[ShaunyC]

In think the mirror wasn't parabolic or something as it had built in Barlow to create the longer focal length..

But as you say I did buy a colimantor and decent eyepices at the time to see of that helped but it never.. 

[Stub Mandrel]

59 minutes ago, ShaunyC said:

In think the mirror wasn't parabolic or something as it had built in Barlow to create the longer focal length..

Ah... that design has a pretty poor reputation.

There are some conventional parabolic mirror Newtonians available from Skywatcher and Celestron at very reasonable prices, including mount, that might suit you better.

 

I don't think a wide angle attachment will necessarily do better, they tend to degrade the image a fair bit in my experience. You could try taking multiple shots of an area such as Cygnus (high up and in the Milky Way) and try out stacking with Deep Sky Stacker (free) you might be surprised what appears!

[SIDO]

Welcome back to the fold, if you are interested in Smartphone Wideangle there is a Facebook group called Smartphone Astronomy that is dedicated specifically so. Alot of amazing astropthoto on display there and a bunch of great folks with a ton of knowledge on the subject, the modern SP now days is really a quite capable instrument. Best of luck with replacing the Bird Jones scope and if you get on with SPAP be sure to share some shots with us ?

[ShaunyC]

Hi all, thanx for the replies ?

Wel I bit the bullet and just went for it and 1st impressions seem ok. The edges don't seem too blurry and it doesnt look like a fish eye which the 1st cheapy did... ann was only 9.99 from Amazon but 20 quid on ebay... a Tycka one...

I managed to get out with it last night for a play but on my way to far destination realised if forgot my tripod doh..

So too far away to turn round I thought I'd at least have a go and I must say I'm quite impressed.. albeit a dodgy balancing act....

Next time I will make sure to take my tripod and i aim to get some star trails just need to suss some decent apps on Android for constant photo taking and a photo stacking app... 

Deep sky stacker mentioned above doesn't seem to be available for Android and night cap seems to be for iOS tried others, DSS, IP, Starstacker but still no joy.. ATM I have Deep sky camera which will take constant pics at 1 sec intervals in RAW and a choice of stackers.. ultimate phone something, ultimate overlay, photo blend, snapseed...

But most of them only stack one by one rather that add them all.. and some are pain to find photos as that deep sky camera app seems to hide the pics deep in files rather than in the photo gallery..

Any recommendations what other people are using would be a big help... ?

So any way here are few pics nothing amazing more just a play about with the settings but j was quite shocked what it could pick up..

1st 3 are the same pic

1st is the RAW

2nd is tinkering with the phones photo editing

3rd is more editing and a compare with stellerium 

4th was prob one of the clearest of ussr major

5th was zoomed in on pleiades

 

 

[ShaunyC]

On 09/09/2018 at 22:43, SIDO said:

Welcome back to the fold, if you are interested in Smartphone Wideangle there is a Facebook group called Smartphone Astronomy that is dedicated specifically so. Alot of amazing astropthoto on display there and a bunch of great folks with a ton of knowledge on the subject, the modern SP now days is really a quite capable instrument. Best of luck with replacing the Bird Jones scope and if you get on with SPAP be sure to share some shots with us ?

I've tried to join that "smartphone astronomy" group but been waiting 4 days for a reply is there any chance if your on it giving them a nudge for me please ? 

 

In another note... Nearly bought a skywatcher 150p on eq 3-2 mount fairly cheap.. but sounds like it's not very good at AP ☹️

[Galen Gilmore]

Those pics aren't too bad, you definitely got some good Milky Way detail.

[ShaunyC]

2 hours ago, Galen Gilmore said:

Those pics aren't too bad, you definitely got some good Milky Way detail.

Thanx Galen ? 

Maybe get some better ones next time if I remember my tripod... haha

Seems the best view of the galaxy is more southern, but for my location I'm stuck between north and east for less light pollution looking out to sea..

[SIDO]

4 hours ago, ShaunyC said:

I've tried to join that "smartphone astronomy" group but been waiting 4 days for a reply is there any chance if your on it giving them a nudge for me please ? 

 

In another note... Nearly bought a skywatcher 150p on eq 3-2 mount fairly cheap.. but sounds like it's not very good at AP ☹️

I joined that group for a little bit but left facebook, they will get to you I'm sure. If not cancel and resubmit your request, you'll get in...